2008 Top 10 Things

The Time is publishing it's top 10 of evrything for 2008: Time Special Top 10 2008, so here's my personal top 10 for 2008

• ASM 9th french rugby union championship final. Against Toulouse, even if it was not the result expected, Auvergne is still lookking to win the Brennus. Actually if Clermont win against Munster next saturday, this might replace that entry.

• Radiohead "In Rainbows" in Dublin
  An excellent new album, distributed freely through the web (i know it's actually 2007).
  
  And on the top of that, i've seen them in a fabulous concert in Dublin, dreamy from the start with a double rainbow welcoming the group in Marlay Park.
  

• Wall-ee
  The last pixar marvel, absolutely enchanting, in particular the silent 1st part of the movie.
  

• US presidential campaign
  From Hilary raise, to Obama victory... it has been a quite exciting and over-publicized campaign. Change could not come at a best time ( or at a worst ? ).
  

• Bertie Ahern stepping down.
  Fascinating, a great political figure, which shape today's ireland, a finance minister who does not have a bank account (how did he get paid ? in cash ), a man who lead the peace process. He had an incredibly long career in Irish Politics, which is contrasting, when you compare to the american system: Obama political career only started 4-5 years ago, while Bertie started in his 20's... France is unfortunately no different.
  With all the afairs, he also did a lot for the raise of Irish stand up comedian.
  

• Large Hardron Collider almost start up
  The Large Hardron Collider, building is finished, and experiment will be able to start. A particular feeling about that news, as lots of my teachers in Clermont University worked ( and are still working ) on that project.
  

• Munster-All Blacks in Thomond Park
  What a game, makes you proud of living in Limerick.
  Everything, from the Munster haka to finsh was exceptional that night.
  

• Lisa Hannigan "Sea Saw"
  Some interesting things happen this year in music, from Portishead latest addition "Third" to MGMT "Kids", but i have a tender preference for Lisa Hannigan first album, and not only for her live show in UL.
  

• Basking Sharks in Kerry
  The first time, I saw so huge animals in the sea... I know it's not a big news, and they are quite frequent on the Irish Coast, but it's in my top ten...
  
  Next year I'll try to get closer, bigger picture of them.
  

• Crunch....
  This growth rate seems unreal, and crazy for most part of the year, and now it's gone, in less time than it takes to write it. How artificial has been our occidental capitalistic lifes ? We'll see if 2009 brings better alternatives

[FR] 10 Dessins animés qui m'ont marqué

Les 10 dessins animés qui m'ont le plus marqué dans mon enfance:

• Rémi sans Famille
  Je reste encore aujourd'hui traumatisé par la série d'épisode ou les animaux meurent un par un.
  

• Galaxy Express 999
  De nouveau une série trés sombre, qui débute par l'assassinat de la mère du héros lors d'une partie de chasse, peuplé d'humains en quête d'immotralité et de perfection via la robotisation de leur corps. Réalisée par le même créateur de la série Albator, un autre dessin animé marquant de ma jeunesse, c'est le même univers désespéré. J'ai depuis abandonné l'idée de devenir un pirate, et d'avoir une cicatrice sur la joue ( un peu a la Joffrey d'Angélique )
  

• Les Mystèrieuses cités d'or
  Une fantastique série ( depuis des années, ils annoncent une suite, peut-être sur grand écrans ) de Jean Chalopin (créateur de l'Inspecteur Gadget entre autres). J'adore l'ambiguité de certains personnages (en particulier Mendoza_, et je restais faciné par le petit documentaire a la fin de chaque épisode.
  

• Les Mondes Engloutis
  Trés trés étrange série, sur un monde au centre de la terre qui a oublié ses origines
  

• Dare Dare Motus (Danger Mouse)
  Comment ne pas adorer un série dont le héros est une souris blanche borgne, j'ai récemment redécouvert la série dans sa version anglaise originale, c'est a mourir de rire.
  

• Cobra
  Ca y est je me suis fais a l'idée que je n'aurais pas un bras-canon pour Noël.
  De nouveau la série a des cotés assez sombre et adulte, qui sont surprenants pour une série pour enfants.
  

• Cat's Eyes
  Avec ses trois filles sublimes ( au niveau filles subblimes cela se rapprochent de Cobra ), je crois que j'étais amoureux de célia.
  

• Nils Olgersen et les oies sauvages
  Excellent histoire, même si je ne me souviens plus des détails et de pourquoi Nils se retrouve réduis a cette taille.
  

• Candy et Lady Oscar
  Ce qu'on peut appeller "guilty pleasures", je n'ai aucune idée de l'histoire de Candy (si si sérieusement), je me souviens juste que les gens étais trés méchant avec elle (mais alors trés trés méchant, si bien qu'enfait je n'aimais pas regarder ce dessin animé). Lady Oscar m'a aussi marqué, je ne sais pas trop pourquoi, j'ai juste cette image trés forte de longs cheveux blonds flamboyants, sur un uniforme militaire blanc.
  

• L'Empire des cinq
  Plus que les robots, je reste marque par les différents sites qu'ils visitents au cours de leur combat, en particulier StoneHenge.
  
  Je me dois de rajouter quelques séries suplémetaires:
  

• Pole Position
  Juste pour les voitures qui sortent d'un camion ( l'un de mes jouets favoris etaient un camion qui permettais justement cela )
  

• Sherlock Hound
  L'une des meilleures adaptations de Sherlock Holmes, avec "Private Life of S.H" de Billy Wilder (1970) et les interprétation de Jeremy Brett, même si c'est une adaptation trés trés libre. Réalisé en partie par Hayao Miyazaki, la série a un attrait tout particulier avec la délicieuse Ms Hudson.
  

Et pour finir la définition du bonheur par maitre Vitalis:

Le bonheur
Uploaded by gerald_helios

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Reeling the years (08)

I am stealing an idea from some French blogs (Fabienne and Olivier who started the thing ).

The idea is very simple and based on a simple question: Where was i 5 years ago, 10, 15 ...etc ?
So let's go back in time by 5 years leap...


1978
I am 2 years old, living with my parents and my grandad in a small village in Auvergne, France near the river Allier.
According to the pictures taken by my dad, i've got a brilliant future in construction or maybe woodworking.

May be i should have gone this road... because the shed we were building is still there.

1983
Still living in Auvergne, we move to a different house in the same village ( i've calculated that my father moved at least 6 times in his life without actually leaving the village ).


The familly got bigger, with th addition of my brother.
I am also starting going to school in Hauterive.
This is also the year, my first computer began to be sold: Alice (8kb RAM, no hard drive...), first contact with informatic which would become predominant in my professional career and also the comic artist called Moebius which made the packaging illustration.

1988
Moving to junior School, in St Yorrre "ca va fort", and also moved to the best computer in the world the Amstrad CPC 464. Yeah I know, from now on I am and will be a geek.

1993
High school, I am in scientific section (is it a surprise ?) and have strangely terribly low notes in my favourite subject: physic. May be i was distracted by girls...

1998
I am in Clermont Ferrand, still in Auvergne, student in Blaise Pascal University.
And guess what, I am studiying physics.
I've started taking interest interest in photography with an old argentic canon (an old T60).

This is also there, I felt deeply in love with cinema, mainly because of the International Short Film Festival.

2003
I've moved to Grenoble at the end of my master to (finally) start working in a small company but on the winter of that year, I was actually on a mission in Milano Italy.

My first real taste of expatriation, I did not stay long enough to be able to speak Italian fluently but it was 4 great months, with some disturbing discovery. I actually discovered that italian girls have the same taste for decorating their bedroom as my 12 year old cousin (except one room was red and black while the other was white and blue ).



2008
I am in Ireland, on the west coast, since 2005.
Enjoying a lot of scubadiving and a bit of guiness.

[FR] Nos Enfants...

un documentaire francais sur la nourriture, les dangers de l'agriculture industrielle reposant sur les produits chimiques.



Le website du film:
http://www.nosenfantsnousaccuseront-lefilm.com/

A ecouter en particulier, le podacst de Serge Orru a l'univeriste de la terre 2008:
http://www.actus-durables.fr/2008/11/podcast-de-serge-orru-a-luniversite-de-la-terre-2008/

Neil Delamere

Last saturday, I was in Glór (Ennis, Co Clare) for Neil Delamere performance. It was excellent, as i almost piss on myself, learn a new word (Ghee, butter in all Indian food restaurant), and finally become highly suspicious towards AnPost.

Neil Delamere is an Irish comedian, one of the regular panelist of the RTE show : The Panel.
I've put some videos of the show previously here.

So here's another one:

Maturity

On devient adulte lorsqu'on a accepté ces 5 i
Irreversibilité du passé
Imprévisibilité du futur
Imperfection du présent
Irrémédiabilité de la mort
Insensé du tout.

Carlo Moïso

Which you can translate by:
"You're becoming an adult when you accept thes 5 I:past is Irreversible future is Imprevisible present is Imperfet death is irremediable everything is Irrational ( the word insensé has actually a more powerful meaning)."

I was listening to the brilliant BBC program: Thinking Allowed (available in podcast), and they were talking about Male immaturity. Basically men today are no longer the manly men of the past, gone are the manly figures of John Wayne and Gary Grant from the movies, replaced by some eternal teenagers. TV, and movies seems to be all about teenage year not anymore about growned up. Men seeking eternal youthness, and playing video-games. An interesting thought by the guest, was that games enable men to play with power until the day the have real power... which does not seem to be the case.

The guest of the show was Gary Cross author of "Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity".

Reflecting on this, may be I should stop recreating Pirates battle with my playmobil:

Or try to make Godzilla vs Goldorak with my lego sets:


Thanks to "Ma Vie sans Moi" a French blog for the opening quotation.

Stand Up and Fight

In a replay of the famous 1978 victory over the All-Blacks (12-0), last night Munster played New Zealand in the newly renovated stadium... and what a game....

The 1978 victory is the beginning of the Munster legend, as Munster is the only irish side to have ever beaten the All-Blacks, the game also inspired a play : Alone it stands.



And the game last night was fabulous, even with a second string team ( most of Munster player were taken by international duty, O'Gara, O'Connell, Flannerys... were playing for Ireland last Saturday), Munster put all his heart into the game, pushed by its fantastic public. One of the best game of rugby I've ever seen.

So the song of the week is....

STAN' UP AN' FIGHT (TOREADOR SONG)

Thanks a lot! I'm sure glad to be,
To be where I c'n see
So many friends o' mine.
How've I been doin'? How've I been doin'?
If you really wanta know de truth,
I'm doin' fine!
Seventeen decisions in a row,
An' only five on points; de res' was all K.O.
Jackson an' Johnson, Murphy an' Bronson,
One by one dey come,
An' one by one to dreamland dey go.
How's it done? You ask me, how's it done?
I got a trainer man who taught me all I know.
Sure feels good to have him in my corner,
Hear his voice a-whisp'rin' low:
"Big boy, remember, you mus' remember...

Stan' up an' fight until you hear de bell,
Stan' toe to toe, trade blow fer blow,
Keep punchin' till you make yer punches tell,
Show dat crowd watcher know!
Until you hear dat bell, dat final bell,
Stan' up an' fight like hell!"

When you fight out in de open air,
In a patch o' light de ring looks small an' white.
Out in de blackness, out in de blackness,
You c'n feel a hun'erd thousan' eyes
Fillin' de night.
Cigarettes are blinkin' in de dark,
An' makin' polka dots aroun' de baseball park,
People are quiet den dere's a riot!
Someone t'rows a punch
An' plants it right smack on de mark...
Someone’s hurt, you kinda think it's you.
You hang across de ropes
Da's all you want to do.
Den you look aroun' an' see your trainer's eyes,
Beggin' you to see it through,
Dey say, "Remember, big Boy, remember

Stan' up an' fight until you hear de bell,
Stan' toe to toe, trade blow fer blow,
Keep punchin' till you make yer punches tell,
Show dat crowd watcher know!
Until you hear dat bell, dat final bell,
Stan, up an' fight like hell!"